Man Utd plan to ‘dump’ £215m trio in January transfer window as Ratcliffe arrives
Manchester United are looking to sell three of their attacking players in the January transfer window, according to reports, as Sir Jim Ratcliffe prepares to take over football matters.
British billionaire Ratcliffe is expected to complete a deal to buy 25 per cent of the Premier League club by the end of November with the Glazers reportedly allowing him control of the football department.
Previous reports have insisted that Ratcliffe is looking for a complete overhaul of that department with the INEOS founder hoping to improve the club’s recruitment.
And The Sun (via The Metro) insists that Man Utd are planning to ‘dump’ Jadon Sancho, Antony and Anthony Martial as they look to cut their losses on the expensive trio.
Sancho joined from Borussia Dortmund in 2021 for £73m, Martial arrived at Old Trafford from French side Monaco for around £57m in 2015 and Man Utd spent £85m on Antony in the summer of 2022.
In total the trio cost the club £215m in transfer fees and now it looks likely that some or all of the trio will depart as soon as this winter.
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Antony has been disappointing this season and has contributed just four goals and two assists in 33 Premier League outings since joining.
The Brazil international has been linked with a move to Flamengo recently but the club’s vice-president recently dismissed reports that the Man Utd winger could used as part of a swap deal for Gabriel Barbosa.
His fellow attacker Sancho is still refusing to apologise to Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag over his social media comments that he’d been made out to be the “scapegoat” in September for their poor start to the season.
Ten Hag has made him train away from the first team and isn’t allowed to use any of their facilities, including cafeteria and changing rooms.
Sancho seems like the most likely out of the trio to leave the club in January but it’s claimed that Martial – who spent some of last season on loan at Sevilla – will also be up for sale.
Martial has one goal in 14 appearances this term and is ‘deemed surplus to requirements having fallen behind summer signing Rasmus Hojlund in Ten Hag’s pecking order’.
Man Utd face newly-promoted Luton Town at Old Trafford over the weekend in a must-win match for Ten Hag and Dimitar Berbatov thinks they will get the job done against Rob Edwards’ side.
Making his prediction for the match, Berbatov told The Metro: “Man United have to be careful because these teams that are near the bottom of the table have nothing to lose. They’ll stay disciplined in defence and then attack you like they did against Liverpool; they can surprise people.
“Man United have to keep it simple, be deadly in attack and don’t leave it until the 90th minute, and no red cards for Christ sake! It’s a must-win for Man United so I’ll go with them to win. Prediction: 2-0.”
